


A Good Teacher is a Treasure Beyond Measure

by EmeraldBenu



Series: Brevity is the Soul of Wit [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 01:54:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10322852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldBenu/pseuds/EmeraldBenu
Summary: Minato wakes up far back in the past. Heart-broken at how badly he failed his three students and son, all four of his children, he decides that he is going to become the best teacher that ever was for their sakes.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dance the silence down to morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3881434) by [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat). 



> So this was actually my first bit of fanfiction I wrote, and posted on tumblr a while ago (original publication date: May 7, 2015). Like it says it was inspired by a blackkat story (A small line inside the story, but really any excuse to rec a blackkat fic works for me. Also, if you haven't read the fic yet, and like Obito/Timetravel, hit the pause button right now. Go read that instead. I'm serious.) that finally made me put my foot down, and try to write some stuff myself. Thought I would put it here for AO3 people to enjoy. It was going to be longer, but I am going to leave it here as I don't remember where I was going with it anymore (I should probably also grammer check again, but I am not so fair warning.). Also, left the original author notes for the most part at the bottom. Have a laugh at them. :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or anything else even vaguely recognizable, but the rest is mine. This is only posted on AO3 and Tumblr by the original author. If you find it elsewhere, it wasn't given permission.

When Minato opens his eyes it’s a shock. Yet, he senses no danger anywhere near. After so long being dead, trapped in the Shinigami’s stomach in an effort to protect his home and then resurrected to fight in the fourth great shinobi war, he takes a moment to close his eyes and just bask as he sucks in a greedy breath of air. He never paid enough attention to just how much of a miracle it felt just to breathe.

Then sorrow and grief for his students tear at him. He’s lost them all in a way, Rin to her death, Kakashi to his grief, and Obito to his rage.

A moment of pride felt for his son, whose will stayed strong even in the face of adversity. The moment ends sharply, torn by grief for making his son an orphan so young in life and all the things his precious Naruto had to suffer by the burden Minato placed on him.

People forget sometimes that Minato is an orphan, that he grew up alone. If not for his genius, he would have remained alone. Just another orphan in one of Konoha’s orphanages.

They are his children, all four of them, and nothing that any of them could ever do would make him hate them. His children. His wife. His sensei. His family that he had worked so hard to build. He loves them all with a fierce, scorching fire, a fire to match the will of his home. That same will that leaves an indelible impression on all who face true Konoha shinobi. Yet, that fiery will is surrounded by a raging river as if made the sorrowful tears of his family.

_Why? What could he have done to prevent that end? Was it his fault? His failure?_

_Maybe._ A genius he might be, but a genius does not necessarily a good teacher make.

_Was that where it all went wrong? Were his teachings to blame?_

Another breath he slowly exhales and he opens his eyes.

The soft light of a new day dances through the blinds, the smell of morning dew still fresh in the air. Minato glances around the room and tries to orientate himself. His brow furrows in momentary confusion. The room he is in is his old bedroom, long before he married Kushina.

A sudden hope blooms inside him, steals the breath from him like the sight of his wife’s exquisite red hair. Slowly, hardly daring to hope he examines the room further.

There, medic lesson scrolls for Rin that he had finagled out of one of the medics from the hospital. And there too, team work lessons for his students, the like of which never existed after Obito was listed as a casualty with his name engraved on the memorial stone.

A half sob escapes Minato. But no, no this isn’t enough. He has to see. See with his own eyes before he will believe this. Believe that somehow, impossibly, he has been given a second chance.

He stumbles in his haste to make himself presentable. Stumbles as he never has before. He feels a distinct rush of gratitude that there is no one present to see. No one to question what has so unsettled him.

What notes he finds indicate that he and his team are on leave, and he has given his team a few days off to rest. That is fortuitous since it means he will have time to adjust without seeming to have become a raving lunatic overnight. Time to plan. Finally, finally he is out the door.

The village is breathtaking. Minato breathes in the sights and smells, watches the people with sharp eyes. Sees comrades long gone bustling about on business. A few wave to him as he passes. Waves to the jōnin they see as one of Konoha’s greatest weapons and protectors of the battlefield, however little that means in the end.

Minato finds Kakashi first, training as always even on his off days. Rin is at the hospital soaking up what knowledge she can in between times. Kushina is working on a new seal to add to her repertoire. Obito is off by himself trying to figure out how to make his jutsu work with no aid from anyone.

Alive. Alive all of them. Healthy if not happy.

Really, of his kids, Rin is the well-adjusted one. Whatever she feels for Kakashi at least she treats Obito well. A kind soul, a great budding medic to have perform a successful eye transplant in the middle of a battle field, one that involved the Sharingan no less, but most of all a kunoichi who wants desperately to not be a burden to her teammates.

But Kakashi and Obito.

Obito who suffers from the neglect of his clan. From mockery and contempt held for his bright demeanor and hope filled dreams. An orphan who even with being part of a clan may as well have grown up in an orphanage himself for all the care he is given by said clan. An orphan who, like Minato himself bears the dream of being Hokage and protecting the village.

Kakashi. Kakashi still suffers from his father’s decision. Tries to stick to the rules and keep his team at a distance, so that such a thing will never happen to him as well. A shinobi who wants to outgrow his father’s shadow and earn back the respect lost from the village. Even if the shame lies not with Sakumo, but the village itself.

His blood boils in his veins like liquid fire as he thinks and watches his family from the shadows of the sunlight, lets himself truly comprehend the depth of the damage wrought by the present when compared to the future to come. How much damage truly caused both by his own poor teachings and by the village itself in its darker moments.

Thinks of Kakashi bowed by the grief caused both from Obito’s sacrifice and later betrayal as well as Rin’s death. _Suicide._ Suicide at Kakashi’s hand in an effort to protect the village from the damage that Kiri would use her to commit with her final act. A promise broken with that death, to a friend Kakashi never quite understood that he wanted until it was too late. Sakumo may have been the start of what shaped Kakashi, but his team, _teams_ Minato correct mentally, played an equal if not more important role.

Rin, who became the medic in order to not be a burden, but ended up frustrated and constricted by the rules that said a medic was to stay out of the fight unless necessary. _Why?_ What was Tsunade then, or that girl Sakura in a future that he promises himself will not quite be the same. Or even that boy Kabuto. Medics all of them, nonetheless dangerous for it. Indeed all the more dangerous, as a medic may know the best way to put someone back together, but that also means they know the best way to take them apart.

And Obito. Poor Obito, who had his dream torn and twisted, shorn into so many pieces as to no longer be recognizable. Broken and trained by an ancestor long gone mad, yet still saw some potential in Obito that Minato for all his intelligence did not. A strong and deadly shinobi he came to be regardless of the cause he fought for.

Minato sees them for themselves now. Strips the masks that all of his children wear. Rin who hides her feelings of helplessness behind her kindness and medic training, Obito who hides his loneliness and frustration behind his cheerfulness and bright sunny smile, and Kakashi who hides his grief and heartbreak behind his adherence to the rules and aloofness.

Determination settles on Minato’s shoulders like a cloak.

The sun is shining. Glowing warm and brilliant in the sky. Minato’s small family is alive here in the sunlight still. Naruto yet to be born. A second chance rests in the palm of his hands. Hope is rekindled into an inferno of joy. He’ll make it count, this chance. Bring his family together and make them strong in the sunlight. May the mercy of the Shodaime be with those that bar his path, because they will receive none from him.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote a fanfiction thing. For the first time. O.O Be afraid. Be very afraid. It’s going to be a one-shot eventually, probably posted on AO3, but I am going to post it on tumblr as the separate parts until its done.
> 
> Honestly, I had a different story in mind for my first foray into writing fanfiction. It’s been gnawing at me since November and evolving in my mental landscape. But this was going to be slightly shorter so I decided to start here first. I have this horrible habit of coming up with epics/chapter fics that have lots of holes instead of short stuff. So they never get written. Being as I actually have a couple of short ideas, well here we are. Once this project is done that one comes next, assuming nothing else comes up. 
> 
> Furthermore, I have not read the Naruto manga or seen much of the anime. My head cannon is derived almost entirely from fanfiction, some of the Naruto wiki, and some clips. I actually got into Naruto from HPxNaruto crossovers. The last time something like that happened and I went and read the cannon storyline after migrating to solely reading the new fandom as opposed to the crossover, I came away with the opinion that the fanfiction was better. So fair warning there will be holes in the story that don’t match up to cannon in any Naruto fics I write. Also, I am writing for fun and have no beta, so there will be errors in grammar and spelling.


End file.
